Asia Payments Announces Acquisition of InterPay International

May 23, 2006 (Hong Kong) - Asia Payment Systems, Inc. ("Asia Payments") (NASD OTCBB: APYM) announced today the conclusion of a definitive, binding agreement to acquire all of the shares of its strategic partner, InterPay International Group Limited ("InterPay"). This agreement follows completion of a due diligence process called for by an agreement in principle announced in February, 2006. Final documentation will be executed as soon as practicable; but, with immediate effect, management changes and business development initiatives, planned over the past several months, will be implemented. These changes will be announced shortly.

The expanded and strengthened organization that results from this acquisition enables Asia Payments to accelerate key business initiatives in Asia as a whole, and to better pursue its objectives in China's rapidly expanding financial payments market. In particular, the InterPay acquisition will permit Asia Payments to more aggressively develop payment services and card programs with its strategic partner, Global Uplink in Guangzhou, China. Similarly, there will be the introduction of new payment services already planned by InterPay for Southeast Asia.

As announced in February 2006, the acquisition of InterPay will result in the issue by Asia Payments of 3,500,000 convertible preferred shares, which will be converted into 17,500,000 restricted common shares. InterPay nominees will receive two seats on the Asia Payments board and integration of the management teams, information systems and business operations will commence immediately.

"Completion of the InterPay acquisition creates a broader-based company with a more cogent business model" said Robert Clarke, Chairman of Asia Payments. "This represents a major step forward for our company and will result in significant benefits over the next several years. The InterPay acquisition will help Asia Payments to develop into a major player in the payment and loyalty cards industry across the Asian region. We expect the InterPay acquisition to lead to increased revenues and an improved bottom line for Asia Payments."

About Asia Payment Systems, Inc. ("Asia Payments")

Asia Payments (www.asiapayinc.com) is a US public company with its principal office in Hong Kong and business activities focused within the payments industry Asia-wide with special emphasis on China. Credit cards are already the fastest-growing consumer credit product in China, and all signs point to explosive growth in card usage and profitability over the next decade.

To facilitate expanding operations in China, Asia Payments recently established a wholly-owned foreign enterprise company in Shanghai and with the acquisition and new company structure, immediate steps are being taken to broaden the existing base of payment related products and services offered in China as well as other high growth economies in Asia.

Asia Payments has utilized an open systems approach in developing a state-of-the-art card transaction processing system which has been tailored to the needs of the multinational retail chains looking to setup operations in China and other Asian countries. Designed as a regional processing solution, the system solves the problems of multi-country banking connections by providing a single front end with support for their networked point-of-sale systems and multi-store multi-lane features. Combined with the increased efficiencies and cost savings gained by the large retailers, the system represents a significant potential market niche for Asia Payments.

With the planned growth, Asia Payments' goal is to provide third party processing services to targeted issuers and acquirers of MasterCard, Visa and other international payment brands for credit/charge cards, debit cards and prepaid cards in China and other Asian emerging markets. These services will also be extended to issuers and acquirers of proprietary/private label cards and loyalty cards.

Asia Payments is currently identifying suitable acquisition targets in Asia - looking to gain market share and additional expertise while expanding its services beyond third party processing. The acquisition of InterPay is a successful outcome of these endeavors.

Contacts:

Asia Payment Systems, Inc.
Robert Clarke, Chairman
Tel: +1-866-877-APAY
ir@asiapayinc.com
http://www.asiapayinc.com

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